Pakistan court jails six leaders from Khan’s party over May 9 riots

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s Lahore on Monday sentenced six senior members of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s political party to prison for their role in violent protests that erupted across the country in May 2023.

The court handed 10-year prison terms to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, and Ijaz Chaudhry. Party leaders Alia Hamza and Sanam Javed were each given five-year sentences.

ATC-I Judge Manzar Ali Gill announced the verdicts at Kot Lakhpat Jail, where the trial proceedings were held. In the Shadman police station case, the court indicted 25 out of 41 people named in the charge sheet, with 15 declared proclaimed offenders. Statements from 45 prosecution witnesses were recorded.

In the police vehicle arson case, 17 accused were indicted, seven were declared proclaimed offenders, and testimony from 65 witnesses was presented.

Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a prominent leader of PTI, was acquitted in both cases against him.

The May 9 protests broke out nationwide after Khan’s dramatic arrest on corruption charges. Demonstrators clashed with security forces, stormed military installations, and set government buildings ablaze.

Pakistan’s government described the unrest as a coordinated assault on state institutions, while PTI insisted the protests were spontaneous expressions of political anger.

Monday’s ruling adds to a growing list of convictions against PTI members in recent weeks.

On July 31, an anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad sentenced parliamentary opposition leaders Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, and Zartaj Gul — along with more than 100 other PTI members — to 10 years in prison over their alleged role in the riots.

Earlier in July, a court in Sargodha also handed decade-long prison terms to Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar and several others in separate cases from the same day of unrest.

PTI has denounced the convictions as politically motivated. Party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said last month that PTI “remains committed to the democratic process” despite what he described as “political persecution and unjust treatment.”

The party’s legal troubles continue to mount. Last month, another anti-terrorism court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for 50 senior PTI leaders, including former president Arif Alvi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, over separate violent protests in 2024 tied to alleged election rigging.

Khan, a former cricket star who served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until his ouster in 2022, has been imprisoned since August 2023.

He faces dozens of charges, ranging from corruption to terrorism-related offenses, all of which he denies. His arrest in 2023 marked a turning point in Pakistan’s political crisis, triggering one of the largest crackdowns on a political party in the country’s recent history.